New Delhi : Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) recently released its report on “Creating 10 Million Digitally Enabled Microentrepreneurs” at the 16th India Digital Summit held on 11-12 January.  The IAMAI report discusses how digital platforms have helped microentrepreneurs significantly increase their market access, standardize operations, improve access to formal credit, reduce cost and improve competitiveness.

IAMAI said that it will work closely with the government and the industry to create digitally-enabled 10 million microentrepreneurs by 2024. IAMAI will be facilitating policy suggestions within Microentrepreneur Digital Resilience and Maturity (DReaM) Program framework.

The program framework (DReaM) includes policy suggestions, ideas, and initiatives that will accelerate the development of 10 million digitally enabled microentrepreneurs. The objective of DReaM program is to create a viral growth path for individuals, by linking them with an ecosystem of digital platforms. IAMAI believes collaborative efforts of government at the macro and micro levels, institutional bodies, and digital platforms can act as a catalyst for microentrepreneurs’ growth story in the country.

Microentrepreneurs are a crucial part of the Indian economy, both for job creation and contribution to the GDP.  More than 50 million microentrepreneurs are individuals or Own Account Enterprises (OAEs) which employ over 65 million people. It forms a major portion of the informal sector in India, as per the IAMAI report.

The report shows that digital platforms have helped in unlocking up to 30% more value for microentrepreneurs by helping overcome common challenges such as market access, cash flows and skill development.

Microentrepreneurs associated with digital platforms were more resilient to the negative impact of the Covid -19 pandemic than others, as platforms took various initiatives during shutdown to support small businesses, the report noted.

The report was launched by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State, Ministry of Electronics & IT, and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

Shri Chandrasekhar said: “The Indian economy will be propelled and accelerated by the power of millions of entrepreneurs…We are the fastest growing economy in the world, we are the fastest growing FDI destination and we are creating startups and unicorns at a rapid pace, a rate which is making the Silicon Valley, and other traditional ecosystems to wonder what they are doing wrong and we are doing right.”

He mentioned that various credit schemes by the government ensured the flow of credit across the pyramid, helping millions of entrepreneurs. “In the last 75 years, a large number of those years have been wasted on account of misguided socialism, misguided sense of central planning that put true energy of India back.  The growth model totally dependent upon a few families, groups, rather than the combined energy of millions of young Indians. Entrepreneurship has been deeply ingrained in the DNA of India. So, the economic model we are building is a combination of thousands of millions of Indians.”